Posted May 27, 2011, 7:30 pm
I am very handsome, don't you think?
My family is pretty big and that doesn't even include the action figures and Mr. Potato Heads. The little grey elephant on the right is Jude and she is about to go to Moscow! Cool!
This is me with my big brother Toby. He likes plushies very much and was very interested in what I was doing getting my photo taken.
I am excited to know where I will be going but I have my hooves crossed!
Posted Jul 26, 2011, 8:39 pm
I arrived in Germany today! I was welcomed by my host Katja and three other ToyVoyagers, Ellie Muh, April and Jelle.
I will continue to write my first travelog entry tomorrow, I am so tired from this long trip and our long walk in the afternoon.
Love
Jango
Posted Jul 27, 2011, 10:49 am
Katja told me that they had rain for nearly two weeks now, with only a few hours with sunshine. So she decided to go out with us in the afternoon, when it stopped raining.
My current home is not far away from the municipal park, only a few minutes to walk.
They have a pond here, ducks and (mostly abandoned) turtles are living here.
Here you can see the observatory, situated in the entrance area of the park.
This memorial is dedicated to the dead of several wars in 18th and 19th century.
Here are allotment gardens, there are four areas with such gardens in the park. In the background you can see the outskirts of Remscheid and the neighbour city Wuppertal.
We reached the district Hasten than, one of the oldest districts within the municipal area of Remscheid. This district was not - or only partly - affected by World War II, so you can still find the old traditional houses here. You can find lots of half-timbered houses here and those which are covered with slate, both are typical for this region.
What is this? Katja told me that this is the garden of the German Tool Museum. You can see large machines here.
This is a machine for grinding surfaces.
These little booths also belong to the museum area.
This Patrician villa was built in late 18th century, also containing a museum nowadays.
You can see here that there is woodland around the city, it seems like I would go on a hiking trail soon
To get home we had to walk uphill for some time. You must know that the city centre of Remscheid is situated on top of a hill, about 365 m above mean sea level.
We almost reached home ...
Here you can see my current home. I am living in the attic storey of the house on the left side.
Bye for now
Jango
Posted Jul 30, 2011, 3:57 pm
in the afternoon we took a walk with Katja's friend and her dog. Katja promised me that I would see Muengsten Bridge, Germany's highest railway bridge. The bridge is overspanning the valley of the river Wupper, connecting Remscheid and the neighbour city Solingen. We parked the car and had to walk trough a forest for some time.
There is an outlook pavilion high above the valley of the river Wupper.
There it is!
This is the view to the opposite direction, towards a large road junction.
There are rocks along our path, little waterfalls running down everywhere.
We were exactly under the bridge!
We went downhill than towards the river.
In the meantime we crossed the river and walked back towards Muengsten Bridge. This side of the river bank is really steep, rocks and steep slopes.
Due to the heavy rainfalls there is even a little creek crossing the walking path.
The bridge is 107 metres (351 ft) high and spans the valley of the river Wupper. Originally the building was named Kaiser-Wilhelm-Brücke (Emperor Wilhelm Bridge) to honour Emperor Wilhelm I. After the end of the monarchy the bridge was re-named after the nearby settlement of Muengsten, which is close to the city limits of Solingen, Remscheid and Wuppertal. Today, the settlement no longer exists, so Müngsten is simply a landmark.
Preparatory work began in 1893, the bridge was finished in 1897.
When we reached the leisure park underneath the bridge is was raining again. When the weather is good lots of kids are playing here in the usually shallow river, Katja told us.
Here you can see the outlook pavilion once more.
Bye
Jango
Posted Aug 5, 2011, 11:35 am
Katja showed me around the city centre today. We started our trip at the public library, where we took two audiobooks and two DVDs with us.
From here you can see the tower of the city hall, the shopping mall and the theatre on the left side.
Here you can see the company building of the local newspaper, Remscheider General-Anzeiger with its figurehead, the "Tüpitter".
This is the central bus station.
The shopping street starts here.
Here you can see one of the churches in the city centre, built in 19th century.
In the shopping street ...
This is the main entrance of the shopping mall with a large fountain in front of it. Kids are playing here in summer.
Those giant forceps are marking the entrance to the shopping street, they are a symbol for the tool producing industry in Remscheid.
This is the city hall with its tower, 48 m high and visible from all the cities around.
A large open space is in front of the city hall, the farmers market is held here twice a week. Here you can also find a pillar with a lion, the heraldic animal of Remscheid.
This is the water tower, close to the city hall.
Katja had to buy some treats for the ferrets, so we went to the pet shop.
We walked home than.
There is a small park in a housing area.
I'm curious to meet the ferrets
Bye
Jango
Posted Aug 6, 2011, 8:45 pm
we attended a wine festival in Remscheid-Lennep today. Lennep is the oldest district of the municpal area of Remscheid with an ancient city centre.
Of course we also tried wine and sparkling wine. (Don't tell anybody - Katja would love a beer festival much more
)
We also tasted several sorts of cheese and a vegetarian tarte flambee.
Later, when it was already dark, I saw the illuminated church tower. When they are celebrating festivals here in Lennep, they turn on the Christmas illumination.
We had a lot of fun until we took the bus back home about midnight.
Bye
Jango
Posted Aug 14, 2011, 1:05 pm
a new guest arrived today, it's Henrik from Finland.
Poor guy, the weather is driving us crazy. It's raining, raining, raining ....
Today we cooked strawberry jam. Katja bought strawberries and gelling sugar. A few empty jars were also ready.
After washing the strawberries Henrik and I helped to cut the strawberries into small pieces.
Than the strawberries were mixed with the gelling sugar. A piece of vanilla bean was also added.
We waited some minutes until the sugar was soaked with fruit juice.
Than this mass had to boil for some minutes.
The jam was filled into jars. They have to cool down upside-down to generate a vacuum. This would be important to cure it for longer storage.
In the end we had five jars of delicious strawberry jam
Bye
Jango
Posted Aug 21, 2011, 8:06 pm
finally summer is back - after a heavy thunderstorm on Thursday.
We could not wait to go out for a walk. We started our trip in Hasten.
From here we had a great overview to the surroundings.
We planned to take a walk in one of the valleys, Morsbachtal. Along the way we saw a lot of lovely houses.
I met sheep
There were more, of course, but only those two were interested to come a bit closer.
We walked along some hamlets in the valley.
Someone restored a tiny halb-timbered house and kept the orginally chimney which must be hundreds of years old.
Here you can see an historic factory building with a basin in front of it.
To get home we had to walk uphill for hours, at least it felt like it hours.
We saw several hot-air balloons - can you the one on the next photo?
It was nearly done - we reached the municipal park. From here it was only a short walk to our home.
Bye
Jango
Posted Aug 21, 2011, 8:30 pm
today we went to the house of Katja's sister-in-law. She is on vacation with her family. It is Katja's job to care for the garden, the flowers inside the house and for their pet - a tortoise.
Here is the tortoise. Its name was originally "Hannibal" until their owners found out that it is a girl
I must admit that I don't know it's name, we simply called it "Schildi" ( a short form for the German word Schildkröte).
We let Schildi take a walk in the garden.
We had a look at the flowers than.
After finishing the garden work we sat down for a while, Katja brought her knitting stuff with her, of course.
Bye
Jango
Posted Sep 4, 2011, 8:23 am
today we took an exciting walk along the "Route of Tools", a closed railways track for freight trains which was built to a lane for pedestrians and cyclists. It is about 5 km long, following the former railway track from the main station in the city centre to the district Hasten. It leads you through business areas as well as to dilapidated factory buildings and also along housing areas.
We started our trip at the nearest point from home. Here you can see several signs, showing the coat of arms of Remscheid and also some with the company logos of the sponsoring companies.
The building of this route was sponsored by local companies, mostly tool producing companies. At some places along the route you can find such information signs.
Looks like hard work
We found those patterns on the ground. They were stamped with wrenches.
We walked along a housing area, no more hard work in sight.
There are distance data painted to the ground.
Dwellings and company buildings are close together.
Here is a relict of the former railway track.
Do you know those berries? It's common sea-buckthorn. Katja told me that the berries are extremely sour, but also extremely healthy.
We rested on this bench for a while. It was built from a giant screw clamp.
We left the Route of Tools here and went to the post office. My host is taking part in an international swap on Ravelry, she is a "sole sister". This time the sole sisters are knitting fingerless mittens for their swap partners. The mittens were sent to Ohio in the USA today.
Bye
Jango
Posted Sep 12, 2011, 6:45 pm
today we helped our host to paint the kitchen walls. We were well prepared
Three walls were painted in a colour which was called "Linen", the fourth one was painted in a dark red.
Tomorrow all the shelfs will be screwed on again.
Bye
Jango
Posted Nov 30, 2011, 8:55 pm
I am on my way back home now.
Jango